Box-lid support, &amp; c.



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A Tron/var PATENTED MAY 12, 1903. E. 0. LUKS. I Box LID SUPPORT, &0. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 9, 1901.

NO MODEL.

lNVEA/TOH Y gjje w/mfssgs UNITED STATES Patented. May 12 T9053.

PATENT OFFICE.

EMIL O. LUKS, OF READING, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF, ROBERT A. LUKS, ROBERT P. SHICK, AND CHARLES F. MOLLY, OF

READING PENNSYLVANIA.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 727,983, dated May 12, mos.

Application filed March 9, 1901.

To all whom, it may concern: I

Be it known that I, EMIL C. LUKs, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of Reading, in the county of Berks and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Box-Lid Supports, &c., of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a simple and efficient device for supporting in open or display position the lids of cigar and other boxes and for other purposes.

The device is more especially designed for use in conjunction with or as an attachment for cigar-boxes, in which relation it not only serves as a lid-support, but also as an efiective implement to extract from the box the usual fastening-tack for the lid and to sever along the edge or edges of the latter the usual fastening-paper.

Accordingly my invention, as stated in general terms, comprises a plate or body of any desired shape or configuration, having formed therein tongues adapted to be suitably bent and applied to the box in a manner to sup port the lid in open position, as will be hereinafter fully set forth.

In the drawings, Figure l is a perspective view of a cigar-box, showing the device as affixed to the lid by the usual fastening-tack and also indicating by dotted lines the mode of using said device as a cutter to sever the fastening-strip for the lid. Fig. 2 is a rear View of the boxwith the lid open and the device in use as a lid-support. Fig. 3 is a transverse section as on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2. Fig. Ais a plan of the device. Figs. 5, 6, and 7 illustrate modifications of the form of the device.

A represents a cigar-box, and B my improvedopener-andlid-supporttherefor. This device in the form illustrated comprises a thin plate of brass or other suitable flexible material of any desirable shape or configuration, in and from the body of which are stamped by dies or otherwise produced two Serial No. 50,418. (No model.)

adjacent tongues b b, which maybe bentlat- 'erally outward.

In the construction shown in the several figures of the drawings, excepting in Fig. 7, the tongue I) is formed by the middle portion of the plate, and the companion tongue I) is formed by the portion of the plate embracing the tongue I), the basal parts of the two tongues being in or about in the same horizontal plane in order that the tongues as a unit may be bent in such plane and, at right angles, or substantially so, to the body of the plate. That part of the plate above the connected ends of the tongues is provided with an orifice b and one or more corners b of the plate is or are made quite sharp.

The device above described is adapted to be applied to the lid of a, closed cigar-box and affixed thereto by the usual fastening-tacka. for the lid, as illustrated in Fig. 1. When it is thus applied, the device, if of ornate design, embellishesthe box. By the act of forcibly raising the inner or free end of the device or by twisting or otherwise properly manipulating the same the tack will be extracted from the box. The freed device may then be grasped and a corner thereof drawn along the ends and front edge of the lid, so as to sever the usual paper fastening a, as indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 1. This being done, the lid may be thrown open. The tongues of the device are then bent outward at right angles, or practically so, to the body of the plate. The fabric a which hingedly connects the lid with the box, is then perforated by the act of pushing the laterally-extending tongues thereof from the back of the box, the body of the plate thus extending above and below the hinge connection and taking against the back of the box and the lid. One of the tongues is then bent downward against the inner side of the box, and the other tongue is bent upward against the inner side of the lid, the various members of the device thus serving as determinate stops for the lid to maintain it in open or display position.

Figs. 5 and 6 of the drawings are designed simply to illustrate different shapes of the body-plate and Fig. 7 to show an example of a construction in which the tongues b b are formed side by side in the outline of human fingers. Thus it will be seen that the invention is susceptible of a variety of unique and ornamental forms. In fact, the device instead of being stamped from sheet metal may be constructed of a single piece of wire properly bent into shape. I therefore do not limit myself to the specific details of construction herein shown and described; but

What I claim is 1. As a new article of manufacture, a plate adapted to form a box-lid support comprising a body portion and a plurality of flexible interior tongues having their basal portions in the same horizontal plane, or substantially so, whereby said tongues may be bent as a unit in such plane and at a right angle to the body portion.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a plate adapted to form a box-lid support comprising a body portion, a centrally-disposed flexible interior tongue and a second flexible tongue embracing the tongue first named, the basal portions of said tongues being in the same plane, or substantially so, whereby the two tongues may be bent as a unit in such plane and at a right angle to the body portion.

3. An attachment for cigar-boxes or the like consisting of a bendable plate having means adjacent to the outer end thereof for attachiug the same to the box-lid, the free inner end of the plate forming a finger-lever for raising the same to release said attachment, and two partially-severed intermediate portions lying normally in the plane of the plate but independeutly bendable therefrom and attached to said plate only at their adjacent ends and at substantially equal distance from said outer end thereof, whereby said plate when detached from the lid is adapted to serve as a support for the opened lid substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

EMIL O. LUKS.

\Vitnesses:

J. E. WARREN, 'l. O. YARINGTON, Jr. 

